NXT Review: 07/07

Linus O'Howell
2 hours ago
5 min read

Kali Armstrong Starts the Show, BirthRight VS DarkState VS OTM VS Sean Legacy and Dorian Van Dux: NXT Tag Team Championships Number 1 Contenders’ Fatal 4-Way

This week’s edition of NXT kicked off with Kali Armstrong in the ring, as “The Difference Maker” said that she lived up to her nickname last week when she attacked Kendal Grey! Whilst everyone congratulated Kendal on finally winning the NXT Women’s Championship, Kali just saw Grey as her next target, with her very much eyeing up the NXT Women’s Title! This brought out Lola Vice to say that she wants her rematch first, whilst Kelani Jordan once again refuses to leave this scene! Vice and Jordan would eventually get into it, leading to Armstrong wiping them both out to close the segment! It was later announced that these three will all compete in an NXT Women’s Championship Number 1 Contender’s Triple Threat Match next week, so I’m expecting anyone but Kali to win!

Grade: C+

We then went straight into the opening match of the night as BirthRight, DarkState, OTM, and the duo of Sean Legacy and Dorian Van Dux competed in a Fatal 4-Way to determine the new Number 1 Contenders for the NXT Tag Team Championships! Thankfully, this was a proper Fatal 4-Way, rather than the stupid 1-on-1 contests where anyone can tag anybody else! This meant that this match flowed an awful lot better, with BirthRight in particular looking strong! OTM were the ones who were most likely to win, but they got screwed over by Lexis King and Charlie Dempsey on the outside! DarkState were also distracted by Saquon Shugars, which opened the door for Legacy and Van Dux to earn the biggest win of their WWE careers so far! Sean and Dorian will challenge The Vanity Project next week!

Grade: B-

Keanu Carver VS Tank Ledger, Izzi Dame VS Lizzy Rain VS Layla Diggs VS Thea Hail: NXT Women’s North American Championship Number 1 Contender’s Fatal 4-Way

After Jaida Parker said that she and Nattie will meet again soon, Saquon Shugars said that he’ll need to prove to people that he’s changed in order to get back-up in his battle against DarkState! Tank Ledger then stormed his way down to the ring as he was looking to get payback on Keanu Carver! At The Great American Bash, Keanu caused a collision that sent Hank Walker through a table, whilst Tank got a little bit of revenge last week by costing Carver his match against EK Prosper! It was incredibly weird to watch Ledger in a singles match; I think Vic Joseph even said on commentary that it’s been over 2 years since Tank’s last one-on-one contest, but in fairness, I thought he did alright! As expected, Keanu Carver ended up scoring the win, and I’m honestly a little bit confused as to where this storyline is heading!

Grade: C

Naraku is very happy with himself, despite losing to Tony D’Angelo at The Great American Bash, whilst Tate Wilder proved that he’s dumb once again by saying that he’s going to beat Naraku next week! Kam Hendrix then ran his mouth to Wilder, leading to Mason Rook scaring him off, before Layla Diggs told Nattie that she wants to win on her own! This then led perfectly into the next match as Layla joined the field of Izzi Dame, Lizzy Rain, and Thea Hail in another Fatal 4-Way, this time to determine the new Number 1 Contender to Zaria’s NXT Women’s North American Championship! I actually thought that this was probably the match of the night, with all four women impressing! Izzi is clearly the biggest star of the four, whilst Lizzy brings a good amount of experience! Whilst she’s massively dropped down in the pecking order over recent years, Thea is still a very talented performer, whilst NXT clearly sees a lot in Layla! Dame and Rain would eventually take each other both out of the equation, opening the door for Diggs to nail Hail with a Moonsault to score the 3 count! Layla Diggs will face Zaria next week in a show that’s starting to stack up nicely!

Grade: B

Tavion Heights Gets Interrupted, Shiloh Hill VS Niko Vance

Reina Volcan put herself over as NXT’s newest threat, whilst Tavion Heights was then in the ring to apologise to Myles Borne! Tavion said that he believed in his own hype too much and that he wasn’t a good friend to Myles! For some reason, this brought out The Vanity Project, as Jackson Drake called Heights’ win over him a few weeks ago “a fluke”, and that had he challenged Borne at The Great American Bash, the result wouldn’t have been the same! This is when Tavion floored Jackson, leading to the rest of The Vanity Project ambushing him, before Myles Borne ran down to make the save! I’m assuming that we’re going to get a Tag match down the line, which results in Heights turning on Borne?

Grade: C+

Sean Legacy and Dorian Van Dux were delighted at becoming the new Number 1 Contenders to the NXT Tag Team Championships, whilst Noam Dar pointed out to Romeo Moreno that they need to build up more chemistry first! Niko Vance was then attempting to turn The Culling’s fortunes around when he went one-on-one with Shiloh Hill! I like how The Culling’s entrance has swapped out Shawn Spears’ voice for both Niko and Izzi Dame’s; that’s pretty cool, and I actually think Vance has the potential to be built up into a force in the NXT midcard scene! Of course, Shiloh Hill has already established himself as both a fan-favourite and a key member of this latest era of NXT, but I suppose in terms of needs, it was more important that Niko Vance won this match! In fact, NXT did a great job of furthering multiple storylines, with Tristan Angels costing Hill (by stealing his tooth!), whilst the post-match angle saw Shawn Spears wreck Vance in the back with a steel chair! I honestly didn’t expect to see Spears again, but clearly, I was wrong!

Grade: B-

NXT Women’s Championship: Kendal Grey VS Nattie

And in the Main Event of this week’s edition of NXT, Kendal Grey attempted to defend the NXT Women’s Championship successfully for the first time when she took on Nattie! Nattie got this shot simply because she’s a legend, and whilst I can understand that to some degree, it’s not exactly like she’s accomplished much! I kind of just assumed that this match was done so we could further the storyline between Nattie and Jaida Parker, but to my surprise, Parker was a no-show (until the very end)! Instead, Kendal Grey just won clean, which is honestly a massive positive in my eyes! Jaida would then show up after the match, brawling with Karmen Petrovic and Nikkita Lyons as Lola Vice also showed up (for some reason)! The show then went off the air with Lola, Kali Armstrong, and Kelani Jordan staring down Kendal Grey, so as always, the NXT Women’s Division is the backbone of this show!